


Simple moments

by LeDiz



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Character studies, Friendship, Gen, lucy wants melodrama, storytelling fail
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-26
Updated: 2016-07-26
Packaged: 2018-07-26 21:03:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7590274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeDiz/pseuds/LeDiz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Since they live such dramatic, adventurous lives, Lucy was expecting something more dramatic before realising what good friends she'd made. Weird how that happens.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Simple moments

What they never told you, in any adventure story, was the sheer amount of time spent travelling.

In all her books and plays, Lucy had never dreamed of so much time. When she thought about it, it was _implied_ , and yes, sure, maybe even outright _said_ , but somehow she’d never quite gotten it. It was always skated over, lost in time banter, sleep and grand adventure.

She supposed she was a little guilty of it herself. When she wrote stories of their adventures (letters to her mother, really – she wasn’t like, recording them or anything), she didn’t mention the long hours of walking or riding trains or anything, any more than she mentioned the smaller, simpler jobs some people went on to earn daily bread.

 Sometimes she even forgot about the hours, to be honest. It was easier to remember Natsu and Gray snapping at each other for twenty minutes during a mission than hours of them walking in companionable silence. Easier to picture Erza, Gray and Natsu hunched over a table making plans than them lounged around a hotel room or campfire, trading stories and secrets. Easier to remember Erza punching Natsu into unconsciousness and then forget the train ride he missed than think of the time she and Gray had spent reading while Erza stroked Natsu’s hair and stared into the distance.

But there were those hours. Long, simple hours.

She never thought of them. Never missed them.

Sometimes she wondered if the others did.

 

* * *

 

Natsu was everyone’s favourite contradiction.

Everyone’s knight. Everyone’s little brother.

Half the guild had watched him grow up, from the lonely child to the proud teen. They all knew, in the back of their minds, that he was probably one of the strongest in the guild, but _he_ didn’t, and they’d all silently agreed not to let him in on the secret. He was their little boy; the hopeless case that they all looked out for.

The problem child of the problem guild. Their poster boy in all things.

He would grin, and women melted. He snarled, and men froze in fear. The adorable monster, Lisanna had once called him, and it had taken weeks for Natsu to stop the guild repeating it. They still did, in their own heads.

Sometimes, though, they could catch him looking mature, or wistful, or just plain tired.

And they wondered how dare they put all their hope on the shoulders of a lost little dragon.

 

* * *

 

It wasn’t that Gray didn’t feel self-conscious so much as he wasn’t self-aware.

The difference was pointed out to him once, when they saw an old woman that was starting to lose her wits. She’d been singing and dancing in public, and it wasn’t until someone had spoken to her that she’d seemed to understand.

He’d always remember the look on her face. The humiliated tears that she just barely held back.

Every time someone pointed out that he had lost his trousers, he remembered that look.

It wasn’t that he begrudged people for teasing him. He never would, just as Erza never apologised for her luggage or clasping people to her armour-plated chest. But when he was around people he didn’t know, he hated his habit.

Normal people wore clothes. Normal people didn’t strip. Even the most out-there wizards, whose whole bodies had been given to their magic, who didn’t even have a real solid form, would layer themselves in some semblance of clothing.

He was a freak among freaks.

But when he was in Fairy Tail, everyone just sighed at him and told him to put some damn pants on, and then carried on their conversation.

So really, who needed to be self-aware?

 

* * *

 

Sometimes, when people found out about the Tower, they would look at Erza with something in their eyes.

Sometimes awe. She had overcome so much and become so strong. But mostly pity.

The little slave girl, so scared of everything, now layered herself in armour and pretty clothes until no one could see what was underneath.

Truthfully, she didn’t mind the pity too much. It was true. Her strength was her weakness – she wrapped herself up and never let anyone inside.

The public weren’t allowed to know that she loved cakes, or that all she really wanted was to live in a pretty house, wearing pretty dresses and makeup, cooking for her beloved friends every day. She wanted… she wanted…

No one could know. No one could know that what she wanted, more than anything, was to see his face. To have him smile at her like he used to.

All anyone could know was that she was Erza: Fairy Tail’s strongest female wizard. The poor little slave girl who wrapped herself in armour to protect her broken heart.

That’s all she wanted them to know, and she thanked the spirits and gods for her allies, who let her pretend that’s all she was.

 

* * *

 

“Hey…”

Natsu looked up from his book, and Lucy grinned, folding her hands under her chin.

“Do you want to go on a holiday sometime? Just the four—uh, five, sorry Happy—of us?”

“Yeah, sure, sounds fun. Can you afford it, though?”

“Eh – no…”

He looked at her seriously for a few moments. “Why do you want to go on a holiday anyway? If you need to recharge, just take a few days off.”

“Oh, come on! We’re supposed to be a team, right?” she said, spreading her hands. “Shouldn’t we like, bond, or something? Spend time together when we’re not working?”

“Bond?”

“Yeah! Like, get to know each other?”

He blinked, then looked over at Happy, who just shrugged before staring back at Lucy. “Ah! Do you want to know about how me and Natsu met? Ooh! Or maybe about the time we found this huge fish? Ooh! Ooh! Or maybe about –”

“Not like that! I mean, like,” She clasped her hands over her chest, eyes becoming sparkly. “Like a special time where we discover each other’s true desires and weaknesses so we can become an even better team!”

“Gray wants to become strong in honour of Ur, Erza wants to fight as long as she can, I want to find Igneel, and Happy wants to stay with us,” Natsu deadpanned. “You want to become a great wizard. Our weaknesses: Gray takes his clothes off, Erza has the Tower of Heaven, I act before I think and you’re just weird.”

“N-not like that either! Geez, you’re so straight-forward,” she said, and huffed, folding her arms. “Simple desires, you know? Like food –”

“Erza likes cakes, especially strawberry shortcake, Gray eats strawberry-ice –”

“Shut up!  Like our favourite games –”

“Checkers. For all of us. Except Happy; he likes tag.”

“Colour –”

“Blue, black, maybe red sometimes –”

“Places to visit?”

“Akane spa for Erza, the North plains for Gray –”

“W-would you stop?!”

He just blinked again, then frowned and folded his own arms. “Well, whaddaya want from me, Lucy? You’re askin’ about stuff you should already know, right?”

“Well… I…” She stared at him, then sighed and shoved herself back in the seat. “I just don’t feel like we’ve done all that special bonding the people in my books always used to do.”

“Why’re you so obsessed with it, anyways?” he asked. “They’re not real, so why should we be like them?”

“But they always seemed so special! Like their friendship meant something and made them stronger!”

He raised an eyebrow, utterly nonplussed by her train of thought. “Lucy… our allies make us who we are. Of course it means something special. But we don’t hafta go on some dumb trip to prove it. Geez.”

“Always worried about what other people think,” Happy noted with an evil grin behind his fish. “No wonder you do that.”

“Do what?” she demanded, but Happy just sniggered and Natsu went back to his book. She slapped the table impatiently. “Do _what_?!”

“Wouldja pipe down, Lucy? Some of us are trying to read!”

“I don’t wanna hear that from you!”

Over at the bar, Mirajane giggled and Lisanna smiled, setting her chin in her hands. “Simple moments really make the best friends, don’t they?”

“They really do!”


End file.
